`nutcracker' Enlivens The Holiday

Alex Wrobleski 
Dec. 17, 1994 
Alex A. Wrobleski, 73, Of North Gates Avenue, Kingston, Died Saturday In 
Nesbitt Memorial Hospital, Kingston.

By ANNELIESE MOGHUL
 Wednesday, December 21, 1994 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 12A 





Your recent excellent report by Anne Karolyi concerning Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) education (Nov. 28) exposed a troubling scenario. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 According to the report, many of the area's educators are opting for a
Victorian style. They're tiptoeing around the subject, behaving like shrinking
violets and finding it "embarrassing to talk about sex and AIDS, homosexuality
and related subjects." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That assessment stood in stark contrast to what teens had to say about the
subject as quoted in the report: Give us all the facts, give them to us early,
and be blunt about it. So far, the students complained, their education comes
too late, offering too little. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A Lake-Lehman school board member was quoted as saying, "if it (AIDS
education) is left to the educators, they would show a man and a woman having
sex in the classroom." Such hyperbolizing demonstrates a deplorably
puritanical, hide-your-head-in-the-sand attitude. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Get real, people! Sex in the '90s relates to AIDS, and therefore is no
longer merely a discussion on morality but a matter of life and death, and you
simply cannot afford to be embarrassed. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Also reported was a visit last year by a noted Washington, D.C. doctor, who
had been invited by Wilkes-Barre officials to lecture high school students on
AIDS, and who was not allowed to mention the word "condom." Such an amazing
display of misplaced prudishness can kill -- and it does. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Some parents believe that AIDS teaching should be done in the home. That
would be the ideal situation provided all parents were equipped with
sufficient knowledge minus the embarrassment factor. Unfortunately many of
them are not. There is real danger that unknowingly and unintentionally they
would relate insufficient or even incorrect facts to their children. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Teachers, however, are in a far better position to acquire such knowledge,
coupled with professional teaching skills and the ability to accommodate the
subject within their health class curriculum. But, according to the report,
many teachers are hamstrung by pressures from narrow-minded school officials
and parents, the latter even having the option of pulling their children from
such classes. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Catholic schools still teach abstinence only and forbid contraception. A
spokeswoman for the Diocese of Scranton admitted that "the church recognizes
that you can't, at that age group, ignore it (AIDS), but only authentic
Catholic moral teaching is presented." That leaves Catholic teenagers with one
choice: heed the message of chastity. If you don't, we cannot help you. Is the
Church's continuing refusal to modify its medieval doctrine to the needs of
our times still justified? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 While all AIDS oriented teaching sessions should emphasize abstinence and
the choice of one partner at a more mature age, refusing to teach the proper
use of condoms is a deplorable omission. The protection of our young cannot be
built on the wishful assumption that everybody practices abstinence. Schools
should not actually hand out condoms, because it might be misinterpreted by
students as a tacit approval of promiscuity, but schools should provide
instructions as to their proper use and where they can be obtained. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It should also be made absolutely clear to students that with a failure
rate of around 10 percent to 14 percent, the use of condoms is still a
dangerous alternative. If teenagers are ready for sex, they should also be
ready to assume personal responsibility. But that can only be expected of them
if they are handed the proper tool -- and that tool is knowledge. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 More than ever they need that knowledge now, because~ ~~according to
statistics the infection rate among heterosexuals is growing, especially in
young people. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 With no cure in sight for this killer disease, the only thing we have to
offer our young people is education. Not homes, schools, nor churches can
afford to still treat the subject as something "touchy and delicate that
embarrasses and offends." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 If local philosophy is not yet ready to treat AIDS education with the
bluntness and candor it demands, why not involve the medical profession? Along
with the trust that correct knowledge is being passed on, the public is much
more comfortable when delicate and intimate subjects are taught by doctors and
nurses. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ~ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Anneliese Moghul is a registered nurse. She lives in Mountaintop and is
chairman of the American Red Cross committee there. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Shyness Has No Place In Aids Education